Thimble n Thread: Chapter 13 - Study of Three Artists.

Herta Puls - 1915 -

Herta Puls studied embroidery in Wales and the West of England and has written several books on the work of the Kuna Indians of Panama. The San Blas Archipelago is a chain of islands off the coast of Panama only a few of the islands are inhabited and are the home to the Kuna Indians.

The women of this region use a layered appliqué method to produce beautiful textile works known as Molas. A Mola is a fabric panel that is used in the making of their traditional smock like blouses. They are worked using light weight plain cotton fabrics in bright colours, and often depict patterns and picture from their cultural traditions.

This kind of cut work and appliqué is worked by hand, many layers of fabric are intricately cut away and neatly turned under and hand stitched down. This reveals the different colours beneath. Animals, birds and plants are among the favourite subjects for these panels. The more traditional Molas are pure ‘reverse appliqué’ a term Herta Puls was not entirely happy with to describe the Kuna Indians work.

Kandinsky 1866-1944

Kandinsky was born in Russia, Moscow and studied law. He started painting at the age of 30 and is widely attributed with painting some of the first modern abstract works. He studied art in Munich and was clearly an artist moved by colour rather than details, his early works took on an impressionists forms of blurred shapes that were left to the viewer to interpreted.

After the war Kandinsky returned to Russia where he met and married his wife Nina. In 1922 he returned to Germany to teach and developed his style. This was a prolific time in his career he produce many works using geometrical shapes and spaces. With increasing pressure on the artistic community from the German Authorities Kandinsky moved to France where he settled in Paris. Kandinsky wrote many books and was a firm believer that spirituality and music had a bearing on his work

Information from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky>

I've picked out my favourite pieces below -

On White II, 1923

Soft Hard, 1927

Points, 1920, 110.3 × 91.8 cm, Ohara Museum of Art

For my own choice I wanted to find an artist that covered a technique in the module.

As soon as I came across Ren Gengshun I was memorised by his work. Mark marking using a soldering iron.

Folk artist Ren Gengshun shows an engraving he made with electric soldering iron in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henanprovince, Dec 9,2014. Ren has been practicing pyrography for 30 years with heated iron on wood, silk and other materials. Asthe officially recognized successor of this intangible cultural heritage, he has created poetic fairylands, illusory clouds and vividcharacters of his own artistic style. His works have been collected by people from other countries, such as Canada, Japan,Germany, and Portugal.